Sunday, 15 February 2009

..Even on the mean concrete streetsOf Berkeley there are lost deer at nightThis time of year, run off the hills, descendingTo look for water and, not finding it,Settling for nibbling the leaves of roseAnd other bushes in people's back yards

Last fall this time, standing in the daytime rushHour street out front, now vacant this onceBecause it was peaceful three in the morningI heard familiar light tap dancer stepsOn pavement that alerted me toA presence I knew could not be another

Clumsy human like me, turned and saw close by,Surprised as I was by our chance meeting,Ears cocked toward me and likewise frozen,A big deer, calculating whether to makeA run for safety yet no doubt in the sameMoment aware in cities there's no safety

For deer--we stood both thus transfixed,Till I looked away, knowing in this turningI would allow our night encounter to end--As so it did, for in those seconds moreLight footsteps told me the visitor wasMoving away up into darkness toward...?.